OCCASIONAL NOTE

If credence may be attached to the rumour that Mr. Charles Roberts, sometime Member for Lincoln, is to be the first President of the Indian Legislative Assembly, the choice can only be described as not less extraordinary than the manner in which it has been made. Generally speaking, legislative bodies, or the dominant parties in them, choose their own “Speaker.” Mr. Roberts, according to rumour, has been appointed in advance, presumably by the dictator who proposes to submit with punctilious propriety all rules under the new India Act to the House of Commons or its Indian Committee. On the ground of qualifications, moreover, the choice of Mr. Roberts is hardly the best that could have been made even within the range of Mr. Montagu’s acquaintance. Down to 1914 Mr. Roberts had never been in India and since that date he has spent only a few months in the country. If he Assembly is to deserve the name it will bear it will presumably give a hearing at least to members of the depressed classes, who number some sixty millions, in their vernaculars. A knowledge of all the languages of the country would be impossible even for a Max Muller or a Sir William Hunter. The ideal President, however, should surely know one or two at least of the more important of them, and a knowledge of the Indian temperament and of Indian habits considerably closer than Mr. Roberts can hope to boast would be a not inappropriate equipment for what must be an important, and may be a difficult, post.

CALCUTTA BOYS SCHOOL

The annual prize-giving ceremony on the Calcutta Boys School took place yesterday in the school hall before a large gathering of parents and friends. The Rev. D.H. Lee presided and Mrs. Lee gave away the prizes. Preceding the prize distribution the pupils rendered an enjoyable programme, consisting of songs, recitations and physical drill, a very pretty and effective item being “torch swinging” by the senior boys. Mrs. Lee having given away the prizes, the chairman congratulated the Principal and his staff on the year’s excellent work and also spoke a few words of advice to the students.

LALL BAZAR TRAGEDY

On Friday the Coroner held an inquest on the body of Tribhuban Singh, a Head Constable attached to the Headquarters Force of the Calcutta Police, who died at the Medical College Hospital from injuries stated to have been inflicted with a knife by a constable named Sukhraj Dube in his quarters in the old Police Court building at Lall Bazar. Head Constable Seoprosad Koeri deposed to having seen the constable being seized by the deceased after he was stabbed. Witness arrested the accused with a knife in his hand which he secured. Gaya Tewari, a constable, deposed to having seen the accused posted on duty at the door from 10 A.M. till 2 P.M. Constable Bishen Doyal Singh deposed that the accused was refused permission to take his food at the gate. The accused reiterated his request, saying he was very hungry, The jury returned a verdict of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against Sukhraj Dube.

HOME RAILWAYS

In the House of Commons at questiontime, in connection with the new Railway Committee, Sir Eric Geddes stated that, apart from the present negotiations between the Government and the railwaymen, questions with regard to wages and conditions of service would, during Governmental control of the railways, be dealt with by a Central Board consisting of five railway managers and five tradeunionists, the latter comprising three representatives of the National Union of Railwaymen and two representatives of the Locomotive Engineers’ Society. Failing agreement questions would be referred to the National Wages Board consisting of four railway managers, four representatives of workers and four users of railways. The Unions concerned agreed that strikes should not occur in this connection until a month after a question had been referred to the National Wages Board.

MEXICAN PLOT IN AMERICA

A memorandum by Senator Fall was submitted to President Wilson, stating that the Mexican extremists, supported by Carranza, had plotted revolution in the United States. The movement was arranged to begin with a general strike last November, when one Eastern and two Pacific ports were to be seized, and a new capital established in Colorado. When the revolution succeeded the Mexicans were to be given as reward the border States acquired by the United States in 1848. Details of the plot were obtained from the minutes of a meeting of extremists in Mexico City on the 15th of October.